Kohei Kobayashi “Yawning・ Lessons”

This event has ended.

At this exhibition, the artist presents three new works: the multiple objects inspired by ancient allegory from east and west from all ages, and the video to capture dialogue between the artist himself and the cast when viewing these objects. The exhibition focuses on the exploration of the viewing experience while taking reference from materials such as object, drawing, and the structure of the allegorical story, also to deconstruct existing allegory in order to derive a different material and event happening in the exhibition space. It aims at bringing emancipation from lessons and morals given by these allegories and obtaining a whole new viewing point.

The new video is a document of dialogue referring to “Akubi-shinan” (Yawning Lessons), from Japanese classical Rakugo (a one-man telling show of humorous story). It is a popular and appreciated story that many storytellers respectively acted for generations and it is based on the conversation between a young man who randomly visited a private school back in Edo period to take yawning lessons, his friend, and a yawning master. To teach how to yawn is intrinsically strange and fishy, moreover, with a boring lesson by the master and the dull conversation between this young man still struggles to yawn, his friend finally yawns instead that the master praises him or audience unexpectedly yawns, which is the punch-line of the story of “Akubi-shinan”.